I'm a fan of Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams. To be fair, I can't say I read all the "classic". I'm open to recommendations.
cover image: "The history of science fiction" by Ward Shelley.
I'm a fan of Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams. To be fair, I can't say I read all the "classic". I'm open to recommendations.
cover image: "The history of science fiction" by Ward Shelley.
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My two favorites are Philip K. Dick and Ursula K. LeGuin. They are more on the "soft" sci-fi side, dealing with personal and social issues but in futuristic settings. Here's a list of my top 5!
Philip K. Dick:
Ursula K. LeGuin:
Also, Neuromancer by William Gibson is brilliant, and clearly what the Matrix trilogy was influenced by.
Philip K. Dick, oh yes... I'm a fan of his work!
Has anyone read Isaac Asimov's, Foundation Trilogy/Series? These are great!
The galaxy is running down and a galactic dark ages of 30,000 yrs looks imminent! BUT there is a secret group of 'Psychohistorians' that claim that they can shape future events. Psychohistory gives such a detailed understanding of the human psychology and history that the fate of the galaxy AND the coming dark age can be shortened or lengthened by what happens NEXT...
One part I remember was the book discussed the galactic corridor travel routes that were discovered over the millennia which made space travel and trade possible... cool stuff.
I love Asimovs fundation, but my favorite book from him is called "The Gods themselves". Even if it didnt have the best writing by todays standards (others told me this, didnt notice it), the idea was super cool:)
@Matei I'm not familiar with "The Gods Themselves" what is the main idea that was super cool?
'Fahrenheit 451' by Ray Bradbury.
In the future, books are outlawed. "Firemen" may come to your home, BUT only to burn the books, if you are a reader, i.e. heretic. Instead there is a group of people that care so much about books they commit them to memory. There are a pair of twins who recite 'Pride and Prejudice.' One calls himself Pride and the other Prejudice.
I'm starting to read this book
I second Neuromancer, and really the whole trilogy:
Neuromancer
Count Zero
Mona Lisa Overdrive
Known as the Sprawl Trilogy, by William Gibson.
Must-reads in my opinion:
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Leguin
The broken earth series by N. K. Jemisin
Stanisław Lem's Cyberiad is an easy rec if you like Pratchett and Adams, although I am informed by at least one Pole that there's no substitute for reading it in the original (the English translation is well-esteemed by those of us unfortunates who can't read Polish, at least). Mortal Engines continues in the same vein.
Italo Calvino's Cosmicomics perhaps stretch the definition of SF a bit but ditto.
Octavia Butler wrote a ton of great stuff; I'd probably start with Lilith's Brood or some of her short stories.
Others have recommended Le Guin and The Left Hand of Darkness is indeed excellent but based on your tastes I'd suggest going with the Earthsea books or the short story collection The Wind's Twelve Quarters first. Bradbury too, although maybe The Martian Chronicles over Fahrenheit 451.
JG Ballard might be a little bleaker than you're looking for but Vermilion Sands is probably worth a shot.
Ted Chiang's Story of Your Life and Others is one of the best collections of shorts I've read, full stop. The title piece was the basis for the movie Arrival a couple years ago.
Here are some absolute classics that you can't go wrong with:
Have fun!
I didn't know Solaris was a book. I have the seen the old (mid-70s) Russian movie, which is very cool. I'll look for the book.
'Slaughterhouse-Five' by Kurt Vonnegut, Easily Top 10
Billy Pilgrim lives thru the nightmare of WWII in a prison camp. Fortunately for him, the race from the planet Tralfamadore give him a pretty nice life in a dome on their moon in their Zoo.
Not exactly a 'classic' by most standards, but I'm rather fond of David Brin's Uplift universe.
Humanity (literally) accidentally stumbles into a huge civilization spanning multiple galaxies and immediately makes waves because they appear to have evolved sapience unaided (which is essentially unheard of in this universe) and by virtue of what they've already done prior to this they inherently have higher status than many races that have been around in this civilization for millions of years. On top of that, many of the most powerful races quite simply don't get along at all (there's one big religion that almost everyone follows which relates to the origins of this civilization, but it's fragmented to a degree that makes modern Christianity look monolithic in comparison). Most of the stories focus on events surrounding a major discovery by a Terran survey ship that completely upends a number of established aspects of the 'world order' (more so than the appearance of Humanity did).
It's significantly more serious than Pratchett or Adams, but still very good.
Some Cyberpunk classics:
Ready Player One
Iain M. Banks is a must-read, IMHO.
His novels about advanced space-civilization "The Culture" are incredibly well-written, exciting, full of interesting ideas (on both technological, social and political levels) and quite varied between them. Some are very funny, while others are psychological nightmares. I love Adams, Clarke, Gibson, etc; and Banks is right up there with them, as I see it.
One I picked up randomly in a charity shop and ending up loving was The Forever War by Joe Haldeman.
Awesome discussion. I would recommend:
If you like time travel stuff, I would recommend The Gone World goodreads.com/book/show/33413556-t...
Asimov for sure, Bradbury for some darker Sci-Fi, and a book that nobody pointed out, but is a must: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams. Sadly, he died young. There is a (crappy af) movie about the book. It's a comedy btw :D
Every book of him is hilarious, at least to me. Give it a try!
I have a large framed print of that cover image on my wall above my PC.
Alan Dean Foster has some fun, light sci-fi if you are looking for something along the Prachett and Adams lines.